The Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 has a major impact on organizations and the people they serve. Many businesses and practices have reduced their opening hours, closed seating areas or have closed altogether. You may have taken one of these measures as well.

Customers and patients are now scrambling for ever-changing information about who-is-open-when, -and-how.

By providing the information they are seeking on your website and social media, you will not only help prevent confusion, you will also show that you care. Even confirming that nothing has changed will put people’s minds at ease that the information is up-to-date! Remove as much doubt as possible from your customers’ or patients’ minds.

Your Website

Make it clear if you are still open for business, and if you are – if anything has changed to the hours and other conditions. Your waiting area may be closed, you may lock the doors and let people in one-by-one after quickly asking whether they have traveled or not, and if they feel well.

If some things have changed, mention what the alternatives are (if any). If your business involves booking, maybe encourage future bookings by highlighting available discounts and flexible re-booking policies.

Maybe start up an email newsletter of your own, so you can keep updating your customers from time to time – and letting them know when things are slowly getting back to normal!

Social Media + Online Directories

Make sure the notice is shown at the top of the page, maybe using a different font colour? With Facebook, make sure to “pin” the post so it keeps showing up at the top, and make sure to “unpin” it when the situation has normalized. Include a message in your Google My Business post.

When possible, adjust the Opening Hours (on Google, Facebook etc.).

How to communicate all of this?

There are several ways to go about it, including:

A notification bar at the top or bottom of the page, or a pop-up banner. It can link to a page on your website with more details. Make sure this banner is visible on all pages, not just your home page.

Have the notification close your contact information – including your Contact Us page, headers and footers.

You could consider adding a Facebook Messenger chatbot (showing an initial question like “Wondering if we’re still open during this Corona crisis?”, and when people click on it you can provide them with more information)

Your notice should cover, where applicable:

The impact on customers

How employees are being protected through social distancing

How customer service will be affected

The location of changes to service

A minimum time the action will be taken for

Consider building lists of frequently asked questions

Don’t know what to say? Here are some examples:

“Company XYZ is currently unaffected by the coronavirus. We will remain open and maintain our normal business hours. We look forward to seeing you soon!”

“Dear valued customer, for your health and safety, Company XYZ will be closed to the public at this time in response to the recent coronavirus news. We will reach out to you with a timeline for reopening as soon as that is possible. Thank you in advance for your understanding.”

“As our company responds to COVID-19, the health and safety of our employees and customers remains our top priority. We are committed to being there when our customers and colleagues need us most. Here’s how we’re responding…”

Finally, Stay informed…

To monitor the latest information surrounding coronavirus, follow the websites of the Government of Canada and the World Health Organization (WHO) for up to date information.

… Stay healthy & safe!

From our family to yours, practice social distancing (stay indoors as much as possible), wash your hands with soap thoroughly and frequently, and hang in there! We are in this together…

– Nardo + Louisa at U-C WEBS

]]>https://www.u-cwebs.com/covid-19.php/feed0How to Create a Google My Business Listing to Get Into the 3-Packhttps://www.u-cwebs.com/how-to-create-a-google-my-business-listing-to-get-into-the-3-pack.php
https://www.u-cwebs.com/how-to-create-a-google-my-business-listing-to-get-into-the-3-pack.php#respondThu, 30 May 2019 18:49:09 +0000http://www.u-cwebs.com/?p=2702Google takes a lot into consideration when determining which businesses will make it into the 3-Pack. A business’ Google My Business (GMB) listing is one factor that Google will weigh heavily. GMB is a huge databases of businesses and it’s mainly from here that Google will choose businesses from. Due to this, it’s not only important to have a GMB listing, it’s just as important to make sure it’s fully optimized for Google.

The first thing to do when filling out the listing information is to ensure that all fields are complete. Many business owners skip over certain information because they think it’s not relevant to them, or it’s not important. This isn’t true, though. All of the information in a GMB listing is important. Failing to include it will turn customers away, and get your listing penalized by Google by not making it into the 3-Pack.

After you’ve filled in the basic information, Google will then want to verify the business. This is typically done by postcard, although some businesses are eligible to do it by phone. In other instances, if you have a Gmail account and the Google Search Console, your business will be automatically verified. This means you can start optimizing your listing right away.

The most important thing about creating a GMB listing is that it’s complete. Google will list businesses at the top of the 3-Pack when they have lots of reviews, posts, and the business owner has filled in as much as possible. When only the minimum requirements have been met in a listing, Google will not place them in the 3-Pack, which could result in a loss of customers for the business. Don’t think that certain information isn’t important. In the eyes of Google, and the eyes of your customers, all information is important information.

It’s a new year and many of us humans are making resolutions to be and look better. And guess what? You need to think about whether your website needs to make a resolution, too.
Let’s face it. Many of us look at website redesign as a hassle. If our current websites are up and running – even if they’re not perfect – we put off redesigning them because we think it’s not a priority.

Spoiler alert: it should always be a priority.

Having an out-of-date website can erode trust with your existing customers and make it difficult to attract new ones.

Does your site need a facelift in 2019? Here are 10 sure-fire signs that it does.

#1: It’s Not Mobile Responsive

I know you probably think I’m beating a dead horse with this one, but mobile responsiveness is no longer an option in 2019. It’s a necessity.

Google penalizes sites that don’t adjust to the size of the device they’re being viewed on. And the truth is, this is an easy fix. There’s no excuse not to do it – and it can actively hurt you if you don’t.

#2: Your Site Is Difficult to Update

You might use the difficulty of updating as an excuse NOT to update, but in fact, it’s a clear sign that you must update – and right away. It’s the best way to be sure you can stay on top of future Google updates and technological improvements.

Updating from whatever it is you have now to a WordPress site where you can easily change your theme and add plugins as needed will make your life easier in the long run.

#3: It Looks Outdated

There are lots of little things that can make a website look out of date. For example, which version of the Twitter and Instagram logos do you have on your blog or homepage? If your Twitter logo has the old bird with the tuft of feathers on its head, your site may look like it’s from the dark ages.

Trends in web design are constantly changing. If your site looks like it was designed in the early 2000s (or even the early 2010s) then it’s time to embrace the present and update it.

#4: Your Conversion Rate is Too Low

There are lots of factors that can contribute to a low conversion rate, including your social media presence and marketing strategy. However, there’s no question that your website – its design, loading time, usability, and other factors – plays a role.

It’s an especially good sign that your site needs updating if you’ve tweaked your marketing campaigns and you’ve still got a low conversion rate. Something’s scaring potential customers away – and if it’s your website, there’s only one way to fix it.

#5: You’ve Got Autoplay on Your Website

Autoplay is dated and annoying, but there’s a more important reason that you need to ditch it in 2019 as part of your website redesign. It is very likely contributing to a slow page load time. I get that you were probably eager to have people watch your video or listen to your audio at the time of your LAST redesign, but it’s time for a change.

Honestly, I think the irritation level of autoplay far outweighs any potential benefit. You’re much better off putting your video above the fold with a killer thumbnail and a compelling pull quote than you are autoplaying it.

#6: Your Branding Isn’t Current

Have you rebranded your business since the last time you updated your website? If so, that means that your website is out of sync with your branding – and visitors aren’t getting a true picture of you and your company when they visit it.

Even if your branding changes are minor – such as an updated logo or tagline – it’s still worth redoing your website to match it.

#7: It Takes Forever to Load

You’ve probably heard the statistic that says that human beings have a shorter attention span than a goldfish. It sounds absurd, but when it comes to how quickly a site loads, it’s true.

Not only that, but Google penalizes sites that take too long to load. You can use their Page Speed tool to check your site’s loading time.

#8: Your Web Design Isn’t Consistent

Perhaps your last web redesign was ten years ago and in the interim, you had a different designer make a few tweaks to the design. Maybe you even did a bit of programming yourself. If that’s the case, you may have a Frankensite that looks like it was assembled by committee – not a good thing.

If your fonts, colors, menus, and other design elements are a hodgepodge and not consistent throughout, a redesign can help you present a cohesive design that will attract new customers instead of frightening them.

#9: Your Google Rank is Too Low

Google prioritizes well-designed, quick-loading sites with great content. If it’s been a while since your last redesign, the chances are good that your site isn’t ranked as high as it could be on Google.

It’s an especially big red flag if your ranking has slipped despite increased social media visibility and a higher-than-usual marketing budget. Don’t ignore Google’s response to your site. It’s not going to get better if you wait to update it.

#10: It Just Doesn’t Look Good

This last one might seem obvious and unnecessary, but I’m including it because a whopping 48% of consumers say that a company’s website is the most important factor in determining credibility. In other words, an ugly or poorly designed site can scare potential leads away.

If that’s not enough to scare you into updating your site, I don’t know what is!

It’s time to give your website a new look…

If any of the ten things on this list sound familiar, don’t wait. 2019 is the perfect time to update your site and take advantage of increased conversions, an improvement in your Google rank and – most importantly – more profits! And we’d be happy to help you!

For many businesses, December is a very busy and profitable month. Your website can help you a lot in making the connection with prospective buyers, or even sell online. There are a lot of things that you still can do to make your website a better tool this Holiday Season.

1) Is your website mobile responsive? Check your site using Google’s own mobile-friendliness checker: http://kort.ca/google-mobile. It might be too late to build a whole new mobile-responsive site should you find out that your website is not ready for mobile users, but you can build a few key mobile pages (home, about, contact, special deals?) to make sure you are at least capturing some of your mobile visitors.

2) Are you capturing leads? By adding an opt-in form to your website and sending out email updates to your subscribers, you can direct them back to your store to check out new products. The response will be even bigger if you offer subscribers special deals. You can also build a relationship with your prospects and customers by explaining who you are, what you do, and why your business is so special and worth visiting. You can also direct them to your social media profiles, allowing for a better (and more profitable) customer experience.

3) Use video. People really like to watch videos. Search engines often rank videos on the first page of their search results. All of these are great reasons to start thinking about using video for your business. For instance, you can create a slideshow with the most popular products this Holiday Season – like creating a slideshow catalogue. Make sure to add a clear call to action like your phone number, or website. A custom (branded) intro and outro to your video, and perhaps some tasteful background music, will turn a simple slideshow video into a great marketing tool. These days you can even add call-to-action elements to the videos themselves – for instance click/tap-to-call or click/tap-to-email using YouTube Cards. That will certainly increase the effectiveness of your videos, especially when viewed from mobile devices. I mean, if you just show your phone number or website in the video, you would probably not get a great response from people on mobile devices. But if these were clickable areas within your videos themselves, then you would probably get a decent number of people taking the desired action to call you, text you, or visit your store.

I hope these ideas will help you get even better results from your upcoming Holiday Shopping Season!

For more information: contact your web developer, or website optimizer Nardo Kuitert at www.asknardo.com or 519-787-7612. Nardo has written the On The Web column on behalf of the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce from 2006-2016.

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Summer is coming to an end and people are slowly but surely returning to their normal routine. The vacation will soon be a distant memory with the kids back into school and then it is business as usual. Or is it?

This would be a good time to take a fresh look at how you operate your business. Review the critical parts of it, or ask for a second opinion – get valuable advice by discussing your observations with people you trust. There probably will be areas in your business that can be improved upon; things may have fallen by the wayside. And you may realize that there are new strategies out there that may reap huge rewards for you and your business.

It is always a good idea to write down the major parts of your organization’s online marketing plan, and then try to assess their effectiveness. Take your website for instance: could it do with a fresh coat of virtual paint, could its content be refreshed? How well can it be viewed on mobile devices, and are there enough calls to action?

Also take a look at your statistics, and see what the traffic trends are. Are they up or down? And how about the average time spent on your site, or the average number of pages visited. Are they up or down? You can use heatmaps and visitor recordings to review what people look at most on your website, and which parts of it go unnoticed.

Something that you can easily do yourself: do a search for your company’s name in the search engines. Find out what people are saying about you. Do the same in the social media. Based on what you find, it may be time to set up some tracking, so you are aware of your online reputation.

You cannot fix something if you don’t know what it is that needs fixing. So free up some time to reacquaint yourself with your organization’s digital landscape, and then take action to make the upcoming year the best it can be.

For more information: contact your web developer, or website optimizer Nardo Kuitert at www.asknardo.com or 519-787-7612. Nardo has written the On The Web column on behalf of the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce from 2006-2016.

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Do you want to publish this article in your newsletter? Send us an email with the details; we will likely grant you reprinting rights, provided you include the credit with a hyperlink back to this site.

Whether your interest is in getting a bigger response from your email list, or merely getting more of your regular emails read – with poor open rates it doesn’t matter how compelling your arguments are, or how good your offer is.

So what can you do to get more people to open your email?

1. Trustworthy Sender Name – The Sender Name (“from”) may be even more important than the subject line. In many email programs Sender is shown much more prominently than the subject line. So make sure that your Sender Name is familiar to the recipient, or at least trustworthy. That means: to the point, not salesy, and not too generic.

2. Trustworthy From Email Address – Email addresses related to your domain name will look more trustworthy than a gmail or yahoo email account. It is also important to keep the “from” email address consistent in case of repeated emailing; people will trust a new email address much less than one they have seen (and perhaps researched) before.

3. A Good Subject Line – Of course the Subject line is of great importance. Once you got the recipient to trust the Sender, you will need to convince them that the contents of your email are worth reading. That they will be missing out on something if they decide not to open it. What the Subject Line has to say, though, is hard to predict. Different circumstances require different subject lines, as do different audiences. Know your audience, write something that they would be interested in (rather than something that you would like to push) and split-test different Subject Lines to find out which one worked best – so you can start your next emails a little more educated.

4. Compelling First Paragraph – Some email programs show the initial words of the email too. Or people may have a “Preview Pane” where they can quickly scan an email’s contents. Make sure to make your initial sentence(s) count as these may very well decide whether your email gets opened or not.

5. Personalization – People will be much more interested in your emails if you mention their name – especially in Subject Lines. This makes the email look custom crafted for the reader, and therefore more relevant. Open rates and click-through rates (from links mentioned in the email) will go up dramatically if you personalize your emails.

These are just a few ways to improve your email Open Rates. It all comes down to building trust, crafting emails that are reader-centric, and testing.

Nardo Kuitert

Digital Marketing Consultant

As a Digital marketing Consultant Nardo is helping businesses making more of their online presence by optimizing their trust factors for better conversions.

He wrote the On The Web column on behalf of the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce from 2006-2016.

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Do you want to publish this article in your newsletter? Send us an email with the details; we will likely grant you reprinting rights, provided you include the credit with a hyperlink back to this site.

I have mentioned in this column before how important online reviews are for your reputation and branding. Potential customers will take a look at reviews when trying to decide whether or not to do business with you – they can make or break the marketing of your products and services.

Reviews and testimonials can bring a lot of credibility to your business, which ultimately results in higher conversions and more revenue. So flaunt the ones you got!

Here are four places you can show them off for maximum exposure:

Social Media
Social Media like Facebook and Twitter are go-to places for many people when they are looking for advice on what to buy, and where. By adding reviews and testimonials to your time line and “About” tab you are adding a lot of verifiable credibility to your social media profiles.

Your Marketing Materials
Whether you are giving away free e-books or reports to get opt-ins for your email list, or only using printed marketing materials: these forms of advertising and promotion are the perfect place to show off a few of your testimonials and glowing reviews. They will make your prospects all the more susceptible to your marketing messages.

Your Website
Displaying customer reviews on your actual website will help you close the deal faster. Collect them on a dedicated testimonials page, or sprinkle them throughout your website. This will show your website visitors that you are the one they should trust their hard-earned money with.

Your Place Of Business
It’s a great way to show existing customers that they’ve made the right choice, and it can go a long way in customer retention and referrals. And once you have their attention you can ask people to provide you with new reviews, join a contest, or to opt into a newsletter.

Reviews and testimonials themselves are very important. But the real value comes from people seeing them – so put some effort into making sure people can actually find these mini-commercials. Doing that will shine a positive light on your business, increase conversions, and help you generate more sales.

Nardo Kuitert

Digital Marketing Consultant

As a Digital marketing Consultant Nardo is helping businesses making more of their online presence by optimizing their trust factors for better conversions.

He wrote the On The Web column on behalf of the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce from 2006-2016.

Do you like this article?

Do you want to publish this article in your newsletter? Send us an email with the details; we will likely grant you reprinting rights, provided you include the credit with a hyperlink back to this site.

In my last column I wrote about why you should use Content Marketing. That by providing people with valuable articles, infographics, videos and so on, you are building trust with your target audience and establishing authority. And while many people agree with that in principle, they have not added Content Marketing to their toolbox. Why? Because they feel it is too hard, or too much work. “What am I supposed to write about?”, I hear you think. But it does not have to be that difficult – if you re-purpose existing pieces of content.

What if you could write one article (on your blog, for instance) as the source for several other pieces of content? This would allow you to multiply your results without creating a lot more work.

So what can you do with that one blog post? Well, you could turn it into a slideshow video, or an infographic. These can be shared on social media, posted onto your website. The infographic could be used as a postcard for Direct Mail purposes. The slides from your slideshow video can be used on LinkedIn’s Slideshare.net. You can use the slides as the basis for a webinar, Google hangout or a 5-10 part video series. You can promote the recording of your webinar on your website and in social media. Perhaps make people opt in before they can see it; then you can send them follow-up email messages.

And the topic for that base article? How about writing about 5 Frequently Asked Questions? Or “5 Things You Should Ask A [service provider]”. Perhaps “Top 5 Tips We Give Our Clients”.

It is not just about re-purposing the content; you can use your article, video or image as a seed for something new too. For instance by asking your website visitors for feedback on it (do you like it, did it help you?), or by adding a little survey. The results can be the starting point for a new article, or a press release. Perhaps some happy customers can be asked to feature one of the questions in an audio or video message.

By taking one central piece of information and re-purposing it for several audiences you can connect with people in different environments, where they will have different mindsets. This will help you build trust and awareness, resulting in higher traffic, better conversions and a great return on your investment.

[Published in The Wellington Advertiser, July 2016 for the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce]

Nardo Kuitert

Digital Marketing Consultant

As a Digital marketing Consultant Nardo is helping businesses making more of their online presence by optimizing their trust factors for better conversions.

He wrote the On The Web column on behalf of the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce from 2006-2016.

Do you like this article?

Do you want to publish this article in your newsletter? Send us an email with the details; we will likely grant you reprinting rights, provided you include the credit with a hyperlink back to this site.

As a business owner you can use many ways to grab your prospect’s attention. Some work well, others not so much. And if you were successful at getting their attention but managed to annoy them in the process, you will have done more bad than good. Content Marketing, defined as “the creation and sharing of valuable, relevant, and consistent content in order to acquire and retain customers”, can be a great way to connect with your target audience.

Here are some reasons why:

1. By creating valuable content in the form of articles, white papers, videos and so on, you get to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Prospects can learn something, and you were the tutor!

2. This content should be fairly easy to create. I mean, it is YOUR business and you should be knowledgeable in your field to begin with. If you feel that your writing skills are not good enough, you can always hire someone to create the content for you (based on your instructions, or an interview) or edit it.

3. Content Marketing can be used to achieve many goals, including Brand Awareness, Lead Generation, Audience Engagement, Customer Retention, or Up-selling/Cross-selling.

4. By sharing your content on social media you can get into a conversation with your target audience. You can learn from them, while further cementing your authority as an expert in your field.

5. Content is easily shareable, and people want to host good content on their own websites. This makes Content Marketing a wonderful tool for linkbuilding, aimed at improving your rankings in the search engines.

Whether you use content marketing to get more leads, build your authority or improve your search engine rankings – it is definitely worth your while to write articles, create videos and infographics.

[Published in The Wellington Advertiser, June 2016 for the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce]

Nardo Kuitert

Digital Marketing Consultant

As a Digital marketing Consultant Nardo is helping businesses making more of their online presence by optimizing their trust factors for better conversions.

He wrote the On The Web column on behalf of the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce from 2006-2016.

Do you like this article?

Do you want to publish this article in your newsletter? Send us an email with the details; we will likely grant you reprinting rights, provided you include the credit with a hyperlink back to this site.